The Great Destroyer
by Corporate Voyeur
Summary: Doctor Breen's scientists wanted to create the ultimate weapon. They stripped away her humanity and have her circuitry. She was born again, but as a monstrosity. They didn't forsee that she would cause a turmoil beyond anything they had ever seen.
1. The Beginning

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**A/N: **Hey there! This is my first HL fanfiction, and I'm quite excited about it. This will be a multi-chaptered story, hurrah! Feel free to voice your opinions about this, I am open to suggestions/comments/constructive criticism.

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"I am increasing Oblique Capacitor C from fifty percent to seventy-five percent."

A scientist known as Doctor Marshall pulled a lever smoothly, his eyes intent on the subject at the head of the lab. His announced actions had put the rest of the team on edge; their eyes similarly regarding the specimen. A small _beep beep beep _signaled the designated limit of the capacitor. Seventy-five percent of the capacitor's full power was intensely strong, but considering the subject was still in perfect condition and the laboratory was not incinerated, Dr. Marshall thought they were still pretty well off.

"There. I think we've got it," he said, breathing a sigh of relief. The other scientists around him heaved signs of relief as well and continued their work. Dr. Marshall allowed himself a moment to rest. He took off his safety goggles and laid them on the console in front of him and rubbed his eyes.

_Breen has really been pushing us to our limits these past few days. Not that this experiment doesn't demand extreme attention, but we are only human..._

Looking back up at the subject, Dr. Marshall smiled at the irony of his last sentence. _Well, at least _we _are human._

The subject of the experiment in question was a female in her early twenties, floating dreamily in a reinforced glass tank at the front of the lab. Countless tubes and wires were connected to her body, sustaining her in a state of perfect suspended animation. She had been taken from her home in the inner parts of City 17 to undergo a series of intense and life-altering experiments. The bone transplant had already been a success. Instead of fallible proteins and weak marrow, she was now supported by pure eternal titanium. The process of a total bone transplant was risky and near to impossible, but the staff pulled off the procedure with minimal problems. The only remaining evidence of the invasive surgeries were the network of scars that traced her body, but they were fading quickly as a result of the clear blue healing fluid in which she was submerged. Her long auburn hair swirled around her deathly pale form, creating an eerie effect that was chilling, to say the least.

Hearing hurried footsteps behind him, he turned around to see John Ingram, a rather fidgety recruit who always seem to appear just when he was needed. Marshall thought his unusual quality was quite creepy but useful as well, so he really didn't mind.

But the look on Ingram's face indicated something quite interesting. Something almost like...excitement. But the feeling looked strange and somehow forced on his face. Marshall nodded at him, nonverbally issuing a command to speak.

"Dr. Marshall, sir, the Antlion serum is ready."

Dr. Marshall felt a chill of excitement run through his body. _The serum....finally! _But he betrayed no evidence of his elation.

"Well, don't just stand there, bring it in!"

"Yes, Doctor Marshall."

The Antlion serum, the final step, was the most integral part of the experiment. When injected correctly into the subject's circulatory system, the DNA of the Antlions coupled with her neurological work with which they had labored tirelessly, she was to inherit the abilities of the Antlion and use them to her advantage.

Marshall turned back to his console and spoke through the microphone that arced toward him and gave orders.

"The serum is ready to be administered. Group 1A, monitor vital signs; Group 2C, balance internal pH. And a reminder to all groups: watch your systems. If they start malfunctioning, immediately shut down and reboot."

At his announcement, an excited murmur went up in the laboratory. This was the moment the entire staff was waiting for. This experiment was extremely high-risk and there were monumental repercussions if they made just one mistake. But everything had gone off without a hitch since the experiment's beginning eight months ago.

The administering of the Antlion serum was the landmark of the end of Phase One, referred to as 'Preparation'. The success of the serum transfusion would launch Phase Two, 'Training And Reeducation', into effect. Phase Three, 'Reintroduction', and beyond was where things would really start to get interesting.

_But let's not get ahead of ourselves, _Doctor Marshall thought smugly as he got up from his seat on the control platform and descended the steps to the Common Floor. As he walked forward to the specimen, he could feel the excitement and anticipation in the lab as a real and palpable thing. But those who were monitoring the subject's vital signs were furiously typing away, their clacking and clicking just barely stifling their nervously labored breathing.

Marshall stepped onto the Command Platform and pulled the ascent lever. The platform started to rise slowly; he took the time to ready the Reachers.

The Reachers were a pair of intensely complex mechanical arms; a technological feat of which Doctor Marshall was quite proud. Although they were capable of crushing pure diamond, The Reachers were specifically designed for delicate high-precision work. Doctor Breen was most pleased with The Reachers; he praised the abilities of Marshall and his team and commissioned many more reproductions of the valuable tools. Most became modifications of the originally benign development purposes; transforming them into the deadly weapons known as Bayoturrets.

Marshall mounted the needle extension on the end of the Reacher, testing it by running a placebo through the administration system. He smiled at the readout on the small screen which read:

ALL SYSTEMS 100%

AWAITING FURTHER INSTRUCTION

......

_All is well in paradise, _Marshall thought as the small vial of serum arrived at the Command Platform's main portal via the system of high-powered vacuum tubes throughout the compound. He carefully picked up the clear glass tube and fed the contents into the loading port of the Reacher. He watched the acid green liquid stream through the network of clear tubes and eventually to the reservoir pod at the base of the needle. A low _ping _sounded and a new message appeared on the readout screen:

LOADING COMPLETE

CONTINUE WHEN READY

......

Marshall sighed nervously and pressed the INTERCOM button on the console. He cleared his throat and spoke.

"I am about to administer the serum. Remember to monitor your systems for any abnormalities," he paused, then continued.

"We've made it this far without many complications. We're on the precipice of history here. Brace yourselves."

Doctor Marshall warmed up the Reachers, moving them in delicate circles. They mechanically obeyed with a whirring sound of working machinery. Then, he directed the arms over the edge of the tank and into the viscous healing fluid. There was a collective gasp from the scientists watching. Marshall steered the needle's point to the subject's neck, quickly locating the lazily pulsing jugular vein. He licked his lips and blinked a few times, trying to calm the growing nervousness within his body. A slip of the hand now would quickly terminate the subject with the Reacher's overwhelming strength.

Gently, Doctor Marshall steered the Reacher forward. He felt the slightest give when the needle punctured

_(her)_

the subject's skin and entered the jugular vein. He held down the release button to release the serum. He watched with calculating eyes as the green liquid simultaneously emptied from the tubes and into the subject's network of blood vessels. As the serum flowed to all regions of her body, her skin took on a pale green tint that intensified and faded in a lazy cycle.

As the screen read 'RESERVOIRS EMPTY', he carefully withdrew the Reacher's needle from her neck and returned the machinery to its idle state. Cheers and applause erupted from the scientists as they checked the subject's vital signs and found her to be accepting the serum into her bloodstream. Dr. Marshall lowered the Command Platform and congratulated his fellow scientists.

However, in that moment of revelry, the serum reacted violently as it flowed into the subject's brain stem; throwing her forcefully from the soft nothingness of suspended animation into the cruel foray of her present.

Her eyes flew open and her body seized up in spasms which sent splashes of her healing fluid over the top of the tank. The scientists, jolted from their celebration, quickly fled to their stations, fiercely manipulating controls to subdue her back into submission. Doctor Marshall flew up the stairs to his platform and tried to control the situation.

"Engaging Mercury Placebo...throw the damn Incapacitators to one hundred percent. Get her back down. GET HER BACK DOWN!"

Doctor Marshall's voice blared over the PA system, nervous and tense. He frantically pushed a button to deliver a ten-thousand volt shock to the subject's body. He watched in horror as she curiously, slowly reached across her body to touch the wire delivering the shock. She yanked out the wire with a wide arcing motion of her arm. She looked straight into Doctor Marshall's eyes as she opened her mouth and let out a ferocious, high-pitched screech. The sound instantly shattered the tempered glass of the holding tank, causing the light blue fluid she had been submerged in for almost a year to flow out over the laboratory floor. The scientists all clapped their hands over their ears and stumbled for the exits, to no avail. Some tried to send more shocks through her body, but the subject still levitated in an unharmed state, as if the tank and fluid were still supporting her.

Doctor Marshall, his hands still hurriedly manipulating controls, was transfixed by the subject's glare. Her eyes, an electric yellow, bored into his with a hatred so tangible that Marshall himself could inexplicably feel the same feeling.

However, that feeling didn't last long, for the subject channeled the electric currents jolting through her body through an outstretched finger pointed directly at Doctor Marshall. He actually saw the white-hot beam arc through the air before being seized up in pain that was excruciating at best.

Seeing this effect, the subject issued beams of electric current to target the others as well. One by one, they all were caught in the agonizing revenge of the damned subject. After a few minutes of this, the emergency switch on the charges kicked in, ceasing the current running through the subject, which stopped the torture she dealt out. Some scientists, still alive, twitched feebly where they lay. She looked upon this reckoning she had wrought, seeing it as fit vengeance for all the hell they had put her through. Even so, her moment of glory was short-lived, for an alarm signal went up in the compound and commands were being issued to Civil Protection.

CALLING ALL CIVIL PROTECTION UNITS

SECURITY BREACH IN SECTOR THIRTEEN: RESEARCH LAB ONE

SUBJECT EXTREMELY DANGEROUS

USE DEADLY FORCE

Though not immediately recognizing the danger for what it was, she only sensed trouble and the need to find a safe haven awoke within her. She closed her deadly yellow eyes and concentrated.

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When the Civil Protection units reached the lab, they came upon a strange and unexplainable sight.

It was impossible to distinguish one charred corpse from another. They all wore visages of extreme pain upon their scorched faces. The CP lowered their weapons in confusion and surveyed the scene further.

A strange blue liquid was spilled out onto the floor. A stray electrical wire buzzed in the silence. Nothing moved at all. But what was most telling about the scene was the most noticeable.

The subject was gone.

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**A/N: **Reviews make the world go 'round.


	2. Laboratory Troubles

**A/N: A big hug and plate of homemade brownies to all who reviewed! I love you. As I'm typing this, I'm excited beyond description and can feel the vibrations of my blasting speakers through the keyboard. (Caramelldansen, anyone?)**

**Anyways, I read every single one of your reviews and appreciate your feedback. Which brings me to another point; I'm going to try and have an update up every weekend, but schoolwork and various school clubs are quite demanding, so if it's not up, give or take a few days. But I'll try my best to get it on every Saturday or so. I'm really excited about this story.**

**Oh, and anyone you recognize doesn't belong to me. Anyhow, onward to the show! :D**

**Edit: Fixed Lamarr's name. Thanks Cheezburgerlover!**

Alyx Vance sighed wearily. It was the third time today that Lamarr had run to hide in some secret corner of Doctor Kleiner's lab. The headcrab's disappearance, in turn, had caused Dr. Kleiner to turn away from the process of preparing the blueprints for an improved gravity gun to wander about the lab, calling for her. This repeated cycle frustrated Alyx greatly.

"After all, I just came here to pick up the new blueprints," she muttered to herself, picking at a stray thread on her shirt.

"What did you say?" A very distracted Doctor Kleiner asked her, pausing in the act of lifting up a crate of test tubes in search of his rampant pet.

"Nothing, Doc," Alyx replied, mildly shocked that he had even heard her mumble over his own mutterings and shifting of boxes.

"Oh, alright. Lamarr! Come on out, girl! I've got snackies!" He rummaged in the pocket of his lab coat and withdrew a pack of bacon and took out a piece, waving it in the air.

At this, Alyx had to stifle a stray chuckle. She was so used to hearing Doctor Kleiner use a sophisticated scientific vocabulary, so his use of the word 'snackies' was quite unexpected. She didn't even know Doctor Kleiner had knowledge of such a flippant word. Not to mention the hilarity of a prominent scientist waving a piece of pork at a stubborn headcrab. At that moment, Alyx wished dearly that she had a videocamera to document this scientific silliness.

_Who would have thought that one of the greatest scientific minds of this time would meet his match in the form of a headcrab? _

She couldn't contain her laughter this time. However, she didn't want to offend poor Kleiner by laughing at him, so she tried to disguise it. The end result turned out to be a quite questionable strangled-sounding cough.

"Alyx, are you okay?" Doctor Kleiner asked, genuinely concerned.

"Mhm, Doc, I'm fine."

"Good, then. Say, will you help me find Lamarr?" he continued, scratching his head (thankfully with the non-bacon holding hand), "looks like she's hidden quite well this time. I can't find her any–-"

Before Kleiner had even finished his thought, Lamarr herself jumped down from an unknown place that he apparently overlooked and perched greedily on his head, waving her claws at the bacon in Kleiner's hand.

At the arrival of his pet, Doctor Kleiner was overjoyed.

"Lamarr! There you are, girl!" This attention provoked more insistence from the headcrab.

"Okay, okay, you can have your snackie." He raised his bacon-holding hand to Lamarr and she snatched it away rather fiercely, leaping away to the top of a cabinet to gnaw on her prize. Alyx tried to ignore the rather sickening sound of the headcrab munching noisily on the bacon. His task complete, Doctor Kleiner turned back to Alyx.

"Now, where were we? Ah! The blueprints, I remember now!"

Doctor Kleiner rummaged around in a stack of papers inscribed with complex drawings and multiple spreadsheets of nameless data until he found the diagrams that Alyx requested. He unrolled the document and spread it out on the table, leaning over it. Alyx leaned over as well to decipher the minuscule handwriting detailing parts of the new model. Kleiner began a walkthrough of the advanced gravity gun, or as he liked to call it, the Zero Degree Field Manipulator X. But to Alyx Vance, it was still just a gravity gun.

"Now, if you look here, the Zero Degree Field Manipulator X has a modified trigger guard, allowing for faster primary fire and also a variable switch to adjust the power for delicate operations. The barrel is also more streamlined; a huge improvement over the last one. I also gave it a new name, as you could tell."

"Sure, Doc, I like what I see, but..." Alyx tapped her fingers on the edge of the lab table, "I don't mean to be blunt, but does it pack more of a punch than the last one? The last model left a lot to be desired."

Doctor Kleiner chuckled. "I knew we'd get around to that. The Zero Degree Field Manipulator X has almost thrice the power of the previous model. Now, you get more...how they say..." he trailed off, searching for a word, "pow for the dollar."

Alyx smiled. "Doctor Kleiner, I think you mean 'bang for the buck '."

"Oh, that's what it was! I almost had it though, yes?" He replied, rolling up the blueprints again and securing them with a nearby rubber band. He turned and walked to the cabinet on which Lamarr was perched. She had finished her 'snackie' and was now waving her claws persuasively at Doctor Kleiner, wanting another piece of bacon. Kleiner put his hands on his hips stared down his pet.

"Now, Lamarr, snackies are only when you come out of hiding. You know I can't look for you all day."

At that, the indignant headcrab jumped down on Kleiner's shoulder. Alyx, picking up the blueprints, smiled to herself at the eccentricity of the situation.

"Doctor Kleiner, I think I had better get going. Dad will be expecting me back in a few minutes."

Kleiner smiled brightly. "It was lovely having you out here, Alyx. I'm sorry for Lamarr's disappearances, she's acting awfully strange today. I just can't figure it out," he pondered something for a moment, "anyhow, I'll fire up the teleporter for you." He walked over to a door on the far side of the lab.

"Thanks, Doc. I'll tell my dad to send you--"

At that moment, a tumultuous rumble shook the lab. Crates were knocked off of shelves, the shattering of glass sounding from within a few. Lamarr leaped off of Kleiner's shoulder in favor of a position on top of a supply shelf and soon disappeared out of sight. Alyx had to hold onto a table for support. Kleiner stumbled over to the table as well, and held onto its surface to stand. The lights flickered wildly, casting eerie shadows over the lab.

"Doctor Kleiner, what's going on?!" Alyx had to yell over the rumble of the earth and the sound of crates falling to the ground.

"I...I don't know, Alyx, but whatever it is, it seems to be coming from behind the door! It may be the teleporter!"

Then, all at once, the chaos ceased. Kleiner and Alyx found that they could stand once more. But a strange noise faintly crackled behind the airlock door. Alyx recognized it as the raw fizzle of electricity. She and Kleiner exchanged a look as they hesitantly approached the door.

**A/N: Hoho! Cliffhanger! I am evil.**

**Review or Dr. Kleiner will follow you around all day, waving bacon at you. **


	3. Newcomer

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews, lovely readers! 333333**

**I published on a one-shot called Merciless: Portrait Of A Rebel (SHAMELESS PLUG), which chronicles the background of a character that will appear later on in this story, maybe not in a major role, but she definitely will be here in some form or another. I already posted it, and it's what may make this update late. Sorry! D: **

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Doctor Kleiner, shaken from the recent happenings in the lab, had no idea what had just happened. He couldn't find any explanation, plausible or otherwise, to explain what had just taken place. So as he approached the keypad on the airlock door, he was surprised to find that it was completely unresponsive.

"Alyx, I can't get the keypad to work," he said, "whatever is behind there exerted such an astounding electric current that it shorted out the keypad's circuitry. We'll have to find another way in."

At Kleiner's remark, Alyx suddenly remembered something she had seen in the far corner of the lab. She dashed over to the wreckage of several supply boxes, avoiding the sharp splinters of fractured wood. Rummaging carefully, she eventually came to what she intended to find, holding the instruments up proudly.

"If it worked for Gordon," she said, walking back over to Doctor Kleiner with two crowbars in her hands, "it will work for us."

Kleiner gave a derisive chuckle at Alyx's wit and took a crowbar and commenced to pry open the door. With much struggling, the two managed to make a small opening in the steel door. Doctor Kleiner stepped back and examined the results of their labor.

"Alyx, I can't fit through here. Would you mind going through on your own to enable the emergency generator so we can open the door?" He asked.

"Sure, Doc," she answered and squeezed through the small opening. Emerging on the other side in the teleportation lock, she found the small room to be pitch black, save for the occasional electric blue spark of electricity jumping from a severed wire. Blinking her eyes to adjust to the lack of light, Alyx reached in her belt and withdrew a flashlight to illuminate her path. She made her way up a ladder and onto a control platform and flashed the flashlight's beam onto a panel marked 'EMERGENCY GENERATOR CONTROL' in large red block letters.

"Jackpot," she said to no one in particular.

As she drew closer to the panel, Alyx felt a strange change in the atmosphere of the chamber. The air around her suddenly became hostile, somehow. She had to battle with an enormous sense of foreboding that coursed through her body. Pushing aside the inexplicable feeling, Alyx flipped a switch that enabled the noisy generator but restored power to the teleportation chamber.

When the lights came slowly back to life, the first odd thing Alyx noticed was the teleporter. It was severely damaged; several of the metal arms were lying in twisted shards several meters from the actual teleporter.

The second thing she noticed was the woman lying unconscious in the floor.

"What the hell?" Alyx whispered to herself. She decided to call to the woman as she descended the ladder.

"Hey, are you all right?" she asked, stepping closer to the woman. The mysterious newcomer showed no signs of response to Alyx, she simply laid there, her auburn hair gleaming dully. As the lights slowly became brighter, Alyx noticed pieces of a strange blue gelatinous material stuck to the woman's skin, which was a peculiarly vivid shade of green. There was no evidence that the woman was breathing.

"Oh, no. This isn't good," Alyx breathed, walking back to the main door.

"Alyx, is everything alright in there?" Dr. Kleiner's voice drifted in through the small indent in the door.

"Uh, Doctor Kleiner, I think I'm gonna need a stretcher or something in here..."

"Are you okay?"

"No, I'm fine," she paused, "but there's someone else in here who isn't doing so hot."

"Oh! Alright, I'm sure I have a stretcher somewhere around here." Kleiner's voice grew fainter as he retreated further into the lab to search for the specified item. Alyx threw the switch to open the hulking door. It slid open with a deafening roar of metal. Alyx raced through to the other side of the lab, where Kleiner was struggling with a folding stretcher. She helped the scientist unfold the contraption and led him through the door where the woman lay.

At the sight of the woman, Doctor Kleiner gasped.

"Oh my God. Where did she come from?" As they wheeled the stretcher closer, Alyx noticed several wires embedded in the woman's skin. The other ends of the wires were frayed, as if they had been ripped violently from whatever had been anchoring them.

"I have no idea, but wherever she came from, it wasn't a good place. I mean, just look at her." Alyx picked up one of the wires, ready to drop it at the faintest jolt of electricity. But surprisingly, the wire was as harmless as a piece of yarn in her fingers. Dropping the wire, Alyx bent to pick up the woman. She braced for a heavier weight, so as Alyx straightened up, holding the woman, she had to take a few steps back.

"She's lighter than I anticipated," Alyx whispered as she gently set her down on her back on the stretcher. Though she had a beautiful face, it was marred with a network of scars, much like the rest of her body. The woman's eyes were closed and she looked at peace. She looked as if she could be dreaming, but Alyx thought otherwise.

"I hope she's still okay..." Doctor Kleiner trailed off, unconsciously speaking Alyx's thoughts.

They wheeled the stretcher back into the main lab and positioned it next to the main network of computers. Doctor Kleiner immediately set upon the keyboard of one console, plunking and clacking away at the keys.

"I'm pretty sure I can use these wires to monitor her vital signs, yes I think that can be done." Kleiner mumbled to himself, occasionally picking up one of the wires attached to her body and examining it over his glasses.

Alyx Vance didn't hear half of his murmurings. She was busy looking around in the lab for something to cover up the woman, to preserve a bit of her dignity. At last, after much searching, Alyx found a linen table cloth in a crate (why Kleiner had a linen table cloth stored in a box, she didn't know but didn't really care either). She made her way back to the stretcher and draped the cloth over the strange woman's form. Only the woman's neck and head were visible now.

Alyx wished there were more she could do, but she could see no other options than to just wait for her vital signs.

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**A/N: I'm so sorry for the short chapter, I promise there will be more to chapter four. **

**Reviews are nice, if you're still with me. **


	4. Visions

**A/N: You don't know how happy I get when I open my inbox and see all those alerts. This chapter was especially exciting for me to write. I hope it's as exciting for you as it was for me!**

**Enjoy! **

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Waiting, however, was one of the few things Alyx Vance did not do well.

She tried standing next to the woman on the stretcher, but Kleiner was making no progress and the woman was showing no signs of response to Alyx's repeated endeavours of talking to her. Though she was very concerned for the well-being of their newcomer, she just _had _to find something with which to occupy herself. Alyx settled for working on the teleporter, which was much easier said than done. Working on said teleporter required her to perch herself precariously on a ladder and hold heavy power tools, which threatened to tilt Alyx off balance and send her face-first onto the lab floor.

But she had made considerable progress already. For one thing, she had reinstalled two of the large metal arms and was working on the third, albeit with a lot of swearing and dropping of bolts.

"Dammit, not again," she grumbled as another bolt escaped her fingers and clattered to the concrete floor below. She descended the ladder to retrieve the small thing and returned again to her perch. Alyx finally secured the arm to the main frame and went to work on some of the smaller parts of the teleporter's interior port. As she stepped inside the port, Alyx noticed the place where she found the woman. She looked around out of habit, then mentally chastised herself for her undue caution.

_Alyx, there's no one around, you're just acting paranoid._

She shook her head and stepped across the newcomer's former resting place. Though her foot just touched the place for a split second, Alyx was rooted to the spot. A series of images barraged her mind, but only a few were intelligible. One was an empty, dark laboratory and another was what looked like a scientist working behind a large pair of metal arms. Both images were viewed through what looked like a light blue-tinted material. However, the last horrible image stayed visible longer than the other ones.

The image itself was that of a laboratory in shambles. Computers were knocked off of tables and the lights were flickering wildly. Black and charred lumps lay scattered throughout the lab. Alyx was baffled as to their identity, but one of the lumps stirred and she recognized it as a human wearing the tatters of a lab coat. Along with this last image came a great feeling of triumph and, strangely, a feeling of birth as well.

And, as fast as the phantasms appeared, they were gone.

"What...was that?" Alyx said aloud, finding herself short of breath. Panting, she ran her hands through her hair and tried to calm herself. She tried her hardest to push away the images that threatened to pry their vile way back into her mind. However, the peculiar feeling of triumph remained for a few seconds after the images disappeared. Alyx was confused and scared at the same time. She knew she didn't have these thoughts on her own, something had to have put them there.

_But what?_

Suddenly, Doctor Kleiner's voice sounded over a frantic beeping noise in the laboratory, jolting her out of her thoughts.

"Alyx...Alyx, please come in here! We have a situation!"

She picked herself up and hurried into the lab. Inside, Dr. Kleiner was hovering nervously the screen of the computer, which was displaying a rapidly spiking and dropping line that Alyx recognized as an impromptu EKG reading. The woman, Alyx noticed, was shivering but otherwise looked okay. As she walked closer to the woman and Kleiner, she could see a second line below the heart rate line on the screen.

"Oh good, Alyx, you're here," Kleiner began, "I was just fiddling around with the wires here and suddenly her heart rate started to skyrocket. Her brain waves also showed up too, which _is_ a good thing. However..." he paused, closely examining the smaller line before turning back to Alyx, "I have never seen brain waves this complex in any human being before. Her brain is abnormally active, which is quite strange."

"Huh," Alyx mused aloud, "that is quite weird. She was unresponsive up until a few minutes ago. I wonder what made her come back to life."

Alyx couldn't help but think that the woman's sudden revival had something to do with Alyx's strange visions in the teleporter. She thought about voicing her strange experience in the teleportation chamber to Doctor Kleiner, but decided against it. She didn't know what he would make of her babbling about her supposed sights.

_And besides, _Alyx thought, _they have nothing to do with what's going on right here, right now. It was some strange energy, that's all. _

Alyx absently placed a comforting hand on the woman's trembling arm. The greenish skin was hot, as if she had a fever. But at the moment of contact, the woman immediately became still. Alyx felt as if a veil had been drawn across her field of vision, she lost sight of the lab. Then, her sight slowly came back, but she was looking up at the grey steel girders that made up the ceiling of the laboratory. Alyx looked to her left and caught Kleiner's profile as he still stared at the computer screen and tapping occasionally on keys. Then she shifted her eyes to her right and saw something that terrified her immensely.

It was herself.

She withdrew her hand from the woman's arm and scuttled away from the table, holding her arm as if it had been burned by the woman's hot skin.

_Oh God, I really can see through her eyes. How in the world did that happen? Were the visions in the chamber, in fact, hers? _Alyx'sthoughts chased each other across her brain like children running for cover from rain. In an uncharacteristic panic, she closed her eyes and covered her face with her hands.

Kleiner, noticing Alyx's sudden recoiling from the table, looked up from the monitor.

"Alyx, what happened? You look as if you've been burned," he moved over to her. Alyx straightened up and sighed. She looked at her hands. They were shaking out of shock.

"It was like I saw through her eyes..." she started, her voice sounding strangely far away, "I saw the lab ceiling, then I saw you, then myself. That was the most frightening part. But the vision ended when I took my hand off of her arm."

Kleiner adjusted his glasses in thought. "Hmm...my only hypothesis is that the electrical impulses coming out of her body are so intense that any contact with her would result in electrical impulses being transmitted to the other, in this case in the form of her sight." He returned to the computer, but instead of typing, he looked down at the woman. Her eyes were moving intensely beneath her eyelids.

Alyx decided to tell him about her previous vision. "And, Doctor Kleiner, that's not the first time that has happened."

"Oh? Please tell me."

"Well, I was in the teleportation chamber and I had dropped a bolt. When I went to pick it up, I happened to stand over the place where I found her," she nodded to the woman on the table, "and I got a strange vision of a laboratory and a giant pair of something that looked like metal arms and then the laboratory was in shambles. And the strangest part of all was that I got this strange feeling. I felt like..." Alyx paused, searching for words, "...like I had just been born. It was a feeling of triumph. This was all before her heart rate showed up on the screen."

Alyx had to shake her head to discourage the wretched memories of the charred scientists and the destroyed laboratory from surfacing in her consciousness again. At this, Kleiner scratched his head.

"So contact isn't necessary, just a place of great energy would provide a vision," he nodded to himself and continued, "and it seems to me like the place in your first vision was the place that our newcomer friend here escaped from. Escaping and leaving total destruction behind is quite a memorable experience, to say the least. And, going by what you said, I daresay..."

But before Kleiner could finish his thought, the woman's heart rate monitor on the computer screen started to beep frantically. Alyx could see that both the heart rate and brain wave measurements of the woman were spiking and falling in great rearing crescendos of green line. And then all at once, the computer calmed again, displaying a slightly elevated but calmer heartbeat, but the same abnormally active brain waves still arced enthusiastically across the bottom of the screen.

This sudden violent activity in the woman's vital signs made Alyx and Kleiner both look down at her. Her face was relaxed for the first time since she was found, making her normally beautiful features appear angelic.

But then, slowly and with with eyelashes fluttering, she opened her eyes to reveal pupils of a vibrant, dangerous, _stunning_ yellow.

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**A/N: Reviews, je t'aime. **


	5. Part Of The Puzzle

**A/N: Hello, readers! I had a really productive week this week and many plot bunnies had babies in my head, if you know what I mean. Tehehe.**

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When the woman opened her eyes, Alyx Vance felt her stomach drop. And from the look on Doctor Kleiner's face, she could tell he was in a similar state of disbelief. A part of Alyx was startled that the woman had even opened her eyes, but a larger part of her was frightened by the colour of her irises.

_Yellow, _electric _yellow, as it were..._

Slowly the woman sat up, pushing herself up on the table with her sinuously strong arms. It was a very fluid and smooth movement, like she was moving through water. Her back was ramrod straight in perfect posture. She surveyed the lab with appraising eyes; they moved in their sockets in minute movements, taking stock of everything. When her gaze fell on Alyx, her eyebrows raised almost imperceptibly in what seemed like recognition; her eyes lingered a fraction of a second longer. A chill ran down Alyx's spine before the woman turned to Kleiner and surveyed him in a similar unwavering stare.

"Hello....we...mean...you...no...harm..." Doctor Kleiner said slowly, annunciating every word in the same manner one would speak to a small child. To both Alyx and Kleiner's surprise, the woman slowly nodded her head in understanding. She still surveyed the scientist with the same stare, but her gaze had softened the smallest fraction. She still remained on guard.

"Where...did...you...come...from...?" Alyx spoke. The woman, startled at Alyx's voice, whipped her head around to face Alyx, creating a fantastic shining auburn arc with her hair. The two stared at each other for a moment until the woman slowly lifted her arm from the table and reached for Alyx's hand. The woman's own hand trembled in the atmosphere like a live wire. Alyx noticed that the woman's hands were no longer intolerably hot, but they were certainly warmer than normal human body temperature.

The woman focused, closing those spectacular eyes and bowing her head. Alyx could see the inside of a lab in a blue-tinted vision like before, only the technicians and scientists inside were steadily pecking away at computers and surveying spreadsheets, their noses almost touching the papers they held in front of themselves. It looked like a normal day, no situations of total destruction here...yet. Every so often, someone would pass in front of Alyx's field of vision and look up at her, then pass onward. She could see a look of mixed admiration and fear in their brief gaze.

The woman released Alyx's hand, satisfied with what she had shown her. Alyx looked across at Doctor Kleiner.

"She's definitely from some kind of laboratory, but I can't figure out where," she said, "all I can see is the interior. If I could see the outside, we could have a chance of finding this place."

"Hmm, I see," Kleiner mumbled, "was there anything else telling in the vision, anything that would give you clues as to her role in this said lab?"

"Yeah, there was, actually. People would walk by, but stop and look up at me--well, her. And I was viewing everything through a blue kind of sheen, if that makes any sense."

"Strange, yes, but I think I have an idea about this." Doctor Kleiner cleared his throat. At this, the woman turned to him, more slowly this time.

"Were...you...an...experiment...?"

Slowly, like before, she nodded an affirmative.

This revelation didn't shock Alyx, but she gasped nonetheless. All the pieces fit together now; the tint of her skin, her yellow irises, the numerous wires attached to her body, the strange way she appeared at Kleiner's lab, her near comatose state until now; all pointed to some kind of strange and unnatural interference from outside. She couldn't have been born that way.

"Aha. That does make a lot of sense," Alyx said, sighing and running a hand down her face. Kleiner, looking resigned at this news, resumed pecking away at his keyboard, but he went about it with a derisive air. He acted as if his worst fears had been confirmed. Which, in a way, they had.

_The fact that she was a human experiment does explain a lot. But we still don't know exactly why she appeared here in the first place. I know the blue fluid in Alyx's vision is some form of recovery solution, but that's all. _He glanced at the silent woman. _She hasn't spoken yet. I dearly hope that she hasn't suffered any brain damage..._

"What will we do now?" Alyx asked, her voice high and quiet, pulling the scientist from his thoughts back in to the present. As Kleiner turned to face her, Alyx could see his face creased with worry. Kleiner read another meaning in Alyx's statement, however. It was more of a "_What if she's dangerous?" _query.

"I don't know, Alyx. I've heard of extreme human experiments many times before, but I was sure they were just rumors. But now I know they're true."

"Who could have done this?" Silence, then Alyx continued in a provoked whisper, "do you think Breen could be behind it?"

"I don't want to jump to conclusions, but he would be the only one who would have enough resources, not to mention time, to...erm, transmute her into such a state..." Kleiner trailed off.

Alyx sighed. "Well, I think we should probably get in contact with my dad, I think the electrical interference from our friend here has dissipated." She motioned to the woman, who was surveying the lab again, taking in every last detail with the air of one appreciating a work of art in a museum. Kleiner nodded and went into the teleportation chamber. Alyx followed, but as she was about to pass through the damaged metal door, she looked back at the woman on a strange whim. She was gazing right back at Alyx with her penetrating eyes. There was a guarded look there, but Alyx could see something else buried deep in her eyes; something almost like a warning. But when she looked again, it was gone; replaced by ferocious yellow.

She turned and stepped into the chamber. Doctor Kleiner had already booted up the communicator and was busy entering in the coordinates of Eli's laboratory. Alyx absently leaned against the door and closed her eyes for a moment. Before long, though, she could hear her father's voice through the static of the communicator.

"Alyx...Issac...? Can you hear me?"

Alyx immediately stepped forward in front of the television displaying her father's image. "Hey, Dad! We're here," she said excitedly. "Sheesh, you sure have missed a lot."

Eli Vance looked confused at this. "Issac, what happened there? I can see a few scraps of metal on the floor there, or that may just be my sight going, I don't know."

Kleiner took a deep breath. "No, Eli, that's not your eyesight. We did have a bit of a situation here earlier. You see, we have a...guest, so to speak, in our midst now."

"That still doesn't explain what's strewn all over the floor," Vance insisted, "And earlier, I tried to contact you but all I got was a static screen. I tried several times, too, thinking it was just a bug in the connection, but I never could get through."

"Uh, Dad," Alyx spoke up, glancing at Kleiner nervously before looking back at her father, "if you knew the nature of our guest, you would understand all this," she gestured behind her to some of the wreckage, "I'm still convinced this is a dream, it was so unreal," she finished in a soft voice. At this, Eli Vance raised a cynical eyebrow but didn't question his daughter's statement.

"So, when can I meet this newcomer?"

"Well, I suppose if Alyx has finished repairs on the teleporter, you can arrive here safely in a matter of seconds--"

"I know how a teleporter works, Issac."

"--I know, Eli! We would bring her there but she is much too unstable right now," Doctor Kleiner paused to push his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, ignoring Eli Vance's perplexed look at his usage of the pronoun 'she', "so we'll run a few tests and give you the O.K. when we're sure it's alright for you to come on through. Wouldn't want you to get diverted and have to use the canal system, now would we?" An ironic chuckle from both scientists.

"Okay, then. I'm quite interested in whoever has caused such an--"

At that moment, there was a massive uproar from the laboratory. It was something between an ear-splitting screech and a deep, resonating roar. Alyx and Kleiner reflexively clapped their hands over their ears. Eli Vance was thoroughly confused, for he had heard the noise as well.

"What in the world was that?" He said.

"I don't know, Dad, but we're going to find out, hold on!"

Kleiner canceled the communication and rushed to the door, quickly followed by Alyx. They gawked through a space in the door with matching expressions of bewilderment on their faces. The only one to speak was Doctor Kleiner.

"How...??"

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**A/N: Woot! I'm so excited for this, it's really going to start picking up soon. **

**You know the drill.**


	6. Transformation

**A/N: Not a very good week for me. I've gotten a bad case of the winter bug and I've been feeling like a pile of smoldering slag. And that's impacted my writing ethic, as well as the lack of feedback on the last chapter (the mountains of make-up work from missing two days of school contributed too). If it absolutely stunk, you could have told me. Har-de-har-har. But it's alright. Maybe everyone else is sick too. Or they just haven't checked FF in a while. I understand. I hope you don't absolutely hate this chapter. Or me, for that matter. XD**

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Alyx, to coin a much overused and hackneyed phrase, could not believe what her eyes were telling her. She and Kleiner both stared through the gap in the door in total awe at the sight before them.

There, right in the security of the lab, stood a fierce monstrosity; none other than an antlion guard. Its long forelegs came to an impossibly graceful yet deadly-looking point on the ground, much like a rather large and dangerous ballet dancer. However, its back legs were sturdy in a blatant contrast to its frontal appendages. It had a bulky and heavily armed waspish thorax and abdomen. Protruding from the beast's back were vibrant blue plumes that caught the overhead lights and reflected them with a fluorescent shine that contrasted the mottled green of the beast's hide. It was ungainly and ugly, but at the same time was impossibly elegant.

A true nightmare.

Aside from assorted eyewitness accounts and blurry, panicked photographs, neither Alyx Vance nor Doctor Kleiner had been in the presence of a real antlion guard. It exuded a mighty aura of infinite potential from its statuesque form.

Yet despite all this, the guard was acting rather docile. It stood serenely in the middle of the lab as it examined a high shelf with great curiosity. Then another creature appeared on top of the shelf, but it was much more familiar than the imposing antlion. It surveyed the antlion guard with a territorial posture despite its minuscule size, waving its forelegs and hissing.

"Lamarr!" Doctor Kleiner exclaimed quietly at the sight of the headcrab bracely defending her home from the intruder.

At his outburst, the antlion guard gave a small flinch of surprise and turned towards the two hiding humans. It approached them in a fluid walk, its bulky body bobbing slightly. Alyx could feel her heart beating erratically as it drew closer. She couldn't put the mental image of the beast's sharp forelegs out of her mind; slashing through the air. But as the antlion stopped harmlessly a few feet away from their hiding place, it regarded them with something like recognition.

It was then that Doctor Kleiner made a novel observation.

"Alyx..." he whispered, "where is the woman?"

As Alyx looked toward the makeshift 'hospital', she realized that the woman, in fact, had vanished. There was no sign of any struggle, save for the linen tablecloth which was lying in a heap on the lab floor. The thought that the antlion had devoured the woman flitted across her mind, but that theory provided no entrance for the antlion to enter the lab.

_That species is common across the shoreline and shouldn't have appeared in a sealed place like Kleiner's laboratory. So then how did it..?_

And then everything made (relative) sense. It was how the green pallor of the woman's skin eerily matched the hue of the massive creature's hide. Her sudden disappearance and the antlion taking her place only strengthened Alyx's new theory.

"Doc, I think I know what's going on," she breathed, her eyes still trained on the waiting antlion, "I think that...the woman...turned into...that thing." Alyx made a small pointing gesture towards the antlion guard who was still standing just beyond the door.

Kleiner mulled over the hypothesis in his head. In a normal situation, he would have rejected this thought, but as he considered the fact that she was an experiment and anything could have happened to her, he reasoned that Alyx's idea was probably correct.

"Now we do what is only natural to do with a hypothesis," Kleiner stated quietly. Alyx looked at him expectantly, but then her scientific knowledge took over as a look of understanding crossed her face.

"We _test_ the hypothesis, but how-"

She was abruptly cut off by a sudden movement from Doctor Kleiner. He nimbly squeezed through the opening in the steel door, causing the large antlion to scuttle back and tense up on alert. However, Kleiner stood tall and confident (well, as tall as he could) and faced the antlion with an unwavering stare. When he spoke, he voiced in authoritative tones.

"Hello. Do you remember me?"

The antlion shifted on its massively powerful legs and bobbed its head in an unmistakable 'yes'. Kleiner motioned back to Alyx. "Do you remember her?"

Again, the antlion bobbed its head. But this time, it turned away from Kleiner and scuttled over to the stretcher. It nudged the stretcher and looked back at the scientist. Strangely, the antlion's demeanor reminded Alyx of an overexcited puppy that she once had. It ran around her father's lab recklessly, knocking over chairs and driving Eli Vance crazy. But that was long ago.

Kleiner smiled as he walked back to Alyx, who wore a matching visage of triumph.

"Looks like we have our answer," Kleiner said as Alyx clamored back into the lab trough the door. Dusting herself off, Alyx hesitantly approached the beast. It shifted on its legs, lifting them off the ground and fidgeting. It was so high energy that it always had to be moving in some form.

Alyx scratched her head, pondering. "Yeah, we have our answer, but the mechanics of this are quite -"

At that point, the antlion suddenly screeched in so high a pitch that Kleiner saw tiny stars appear on the surface of his glasses. Alyx winced from the sound. The antlion shook violently, then extended its body upward and screeched again. Suddenly, it collapsed and seemed to shrink into a compacter form. The young woman and the scientist watched with mixed horror and wonder as the bulky form of the antlion shrunk into the slender form of none other than the woman who had appeared earlier in the teleporter.

She lay motionless on the floor for a silent moment. The lights in the laboratory shone dully on her pale green skin. Then she slowly sat up.

Kleiner and Alyx rushed to her side. She looked at them with wide, frightened eyes. A tear snaked down her cheek, leaving a damp trail. A small, clear voice sounded.

"I'm sorry."

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**A/N: Okay, maybe the tear seems a bit out of character, but I have my reasons. Future drama, future chapters, ahoy!**

**And for the sake of my sanity, if you read, PLEASE review. And again, THANK YOU for reading. I am always open to any comments/questions/suggestions/concrit.**


	7. Message In A Code

Both Alyx Vance and Issac Kleiner were startled at the woman's muttered and quite unnecessary apology. Her unexpected speech was quite strange in that it was not foreshadowed by any stammering or stuttering. She trembled almost undetectably in the stillness of the moment; her face the very picture of absent stoicism save for the lone tear trail down her cheek. Alyx was fascinated and yet scared at the woman's sudden speech. She looked at Kleiner, who seemed just as perplexed as she was from what she could tell.

_As if we weren't confused enough already, _she thought as she brushed the woman's hair away from her face to look into her intelligent eyes. Hazel met yellow and there was a jolt, much like electricity. Alyx could see something deep in the woman's gaze that both intrigued her and gave her an overwhelming sense of déjàvu.

What she recognized was the feeling she had felt earlier after seeing the vision in the teleportation chamber; one of triumph, but there was something else there in those strange, reptilian yellow eyes.

It was power. Infinite, unbridled power.

_And what we just witnessed is evidence to that..._she mused, shifting out of the woman's field of vision to sit back on her heels.

"Well, come on now, let's get back up," Kleiner said suddenly, gently tugging on the woman's arm. She obeyed, standing up and walking with the scientist. She made it a few steps before going totally limp. She would have fallen to the ground had Kleiner not been holding her arm. Alyx quickly jumped up to catch the woman. She and the scientist exchanged not a word, just a furtive glance as they carried her back to the stretcher. They knew they had an unspoken duty to care for their fellow human; a trait that had been all but squashed out of the general populace of City 17 by the fear perpetuated by Doctor Breen and the Combine.

When they set the woman onto her resting place, Alyx reached down and picked up the cloth that had fallen on the floor earlier. As she grasped the fabric in her hands, she felt something odd buried deep in the white folds. Reaching into the cloth, she felt something small between her fingers. What she held in the atmosphere before her caught Doctor Kleiner's attention.

"Isn't that one of the wires that was dangling from her skin?"

"Yeah, Doc, it is," Alyx said. Still holding the wire, she recognized where it had exactly come from. She picked up the woman's hand, which was still slightly warmer than normal. Upon closer examination of her index finger, Alyx detected the broken-off end of what appeared to be the other end of the wire. She could faintly see the outline of the other end of the wire beneath the surface of the woman's skin. Kleiner leaned close to observe as well.

"Hmm, it may have snapped off when she transformed," he remarked idly, gently taking her hand from Alyx to observe the breakage point. During all of this, the woman remained motionless on the stretcher, save for her shallow breaths.

Though a wire had broken off from her finger, there were plenty more protruding from her skin. They were quite a poor mechanical parody of the vibrantly organic creature she was. Of particular interest to Kleiner and Alyx, there was a thick bundle of similar wires protruding from the back of her neck; the same ones Doctor Kleiner used before her transformation to rig up an impromptu brain and heart rate monitor. He proceeded to fiddle with these wires now, slotting them into a small black box presumably connected to the computer not far away. The screen of the console flickered green for a moment, then went black.

Suddenly, neon green numbers rapidly appeared on the screen, scrolling endlessly in an infinite repeat. Kleiner gave a 'whoa' of surprise and examined the screen, his glasses perched on the tip of his nose. Alyx regarded the scrolling screen with her arms crossed, but her mind was wheeling. Upon closer examination, the numbers were revealed to be zeros and ones which scrolled in a pattern that was only noticeable because of a slightly wider margin between each repeating of the pattern.

"Ah, I know this," Kleiner mumbled. He produced a small notebook and an ink pen from inside his lab coat and proceeded to copy down the pattern. Alyx sneaked a glance at the paper on which Kleiner was frantically writing. The code read:

**0101010101001011010101000101001001000001010101100100100101001111010010110100010101010100**

As she retreated, Kleiner's face broke into a reminiscent grin.

"Oh no, you've got that look again, Doc," she joked, playfully rolling her eyes, "what is it this time?"

Doctor Kleiner grinned widely. "It's binary, a simple code that computers use to communicate."

When Alyx nodded to show she already understood that fact, Kleiner continued.

"There's a funny story behind this code, actually. Some years ago, back in Black Mesa, the members of our division would sometimes send messages using this code. It always broke up the monotony of the day," his face grew wistful at the recalling of this memory, but he shook his head and continued in a businesslike tone. "As with most codes, each set of numbers corresponds to a specific character or letter. Even so, I haven't used binary in so long, I've forgotten a lot of what I knew. However-"

He immediately started rummaging in the lower cabinet of a nearby table. Alyx crossed over to the other side and leaned her weight on the smooth metal surface. Sitting neatly on the table, undisturbed by much of the ruckus, were the blueprints for the improved gravity gun she had originally been sent to pick up but had forgotten about in light of the recent commotion. She picked them up and set them aside at the exact moment that Doctor Kleiner popped up from the cabinet holding a thick hardback volume which he plunked down on the table and began leafing through.

"This is a binary to ASCII converter manual. I haven't used it in, my, twenty years!"

Arriving at a page he needed, the scientist rewrote the code so it was grouped in amounts of eight; turning the string of numbers into eleven sizable chunks.

**01010101 01001011 01010100 01010010 01000001 01010110 01001001 01001111 01001011 01000101 01010100**

"Now that we've separated the code, we look up the corresponding letter in the manual." Slowly, Kleiner tracked down the matching letter in the volume. Alyx watched him with bated breath. She had a feeling something would come of this message, but she didn't know exactly what.

Eventually, the last letter was written down on the small notebook. The decoded word in its entirety read:

**ULTRAVIOLET**

"Ultraviolet, huh?" Alyx stated, pondering deeply. "The very end of the visible light spectrum," she glanced at Kleiner, who was in a similar state of contemplation. A word in Alyx's statement caught his attention in particular.

"Light...light, that's it!" He exclaimed, leaping up with an uncharacteristic burst of energy for one his age. His sudden exertion took Alyx Vance by surprise. She watched as he hurried over to the far corner of the lab, digging among scores of strange scientific objects. She stepped in his direction, wary of getting too close. Finally, after much mumbling and clanging of metal objects, Doctor Kleiner emerged with what looked like a light on a metal stand. The lightbulb housing was rectangular and bent at such an angle that it would channel its light down onto the object at the base of the light.

"It's an ultraviolet lamp," Kleiner said with a rather victorious expression, "I really don't know why I have it; I don't even know if it still works, but I'm pretty sure it's what she wanted to tell us about." He set it down next to the stretcher and busied himself with examining the power cord. As Alyx approached the woman, Kleiner succeeded in getting power to the lamp. The darkly coated bulb lit with a faint buzzing noise.

As soon as the invisible rays hit the woman's skin, Alyx and Kleiner noticed a distinct change in its colour. It became a brighter green and seemed to pulse with a varying intensity. Her hair even seemed to be affected by the ultraviolet wavelengths; it was as if someone had turned up the saturation filter on her auburn locks. Kleiner retreated at this point back into the storage area of the laboratory, saying something about another lamp.

The scrolling binary figures on the computer screen had ceased, replaced by her steadily beeping heart rate. However, the second line that registered her brain waves was abnormally active; operating at more than seven times the amount of a normal human brain, or so said the small readout at the bottom of the screen. Alyx watched the woman's vitals on the screen with a kind of curious speculation.

When she turned back to the woman on the stretcher, she noticed something quite strange happening. The woman's skin was developing a black and shimmering sheen. It was forming over her whole body, even though the light was only focused on her torso.

"Hey, Doc, come in here!" Alyx yelled, slightly alarmed at the woman's condition.

Kleiner came hurrying into the main area, virtually skidding to a stop that would have been comical in any other situation. He noticed the state of the woman's skin with an incredulous glance at Alyx, then back at the woman. By then, the woman's body was almost totally encased in the black 'armour', except for her knees and elbows where the plates had grown protectively around the joint but had not enclosed it completely. The armour looked thin but very sturdy as it grew before Doctor Kleiner's and Alyx's eyes. Her face was the only area where the armour wasn't developing; it stopped its progress on her neck just below her jawline.

But the most interesting place of growth was her feet. The black substance had formed a sort of stiletto heel, but it was quite long; at least seven inches. The armour coating was thickest on the bottoms of her feet while it clung very delicately to her fingers, outlining them like a perfectly fitted glove. Her armour dampened her enough that she didn't seem so exposed anymore, but she was still striking with her stellar figure and shimmering curtain of auburn hair.

Once again, Doctor Kleiner and Alyx Vance were rendered speechless by the mysterious woman.

Then she opened her eyes again.

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**A/N: (Haha, scientists passing notes in binary) **

**Woot! Thanks for the reviews, they really mean a lot to me. And yes, they will leave the lab at a point _very close_ in the future. But, yeah, I apologize if it's gotten a bit boring. I promise more will happen, ehehe. And I hate that ending, but hey, our friend here is quite mysterious. **

**Repondez-vous, mon amies?**


	8. By Any Other Name

With eyes wide open, the woman sat up from her position on the stretcher. Her jet black armour glinted beneath the invisible wavelengths of light. She seemed to exude power now, as opposed to her weaker self before her new growth. Then she swung her legs over the side of the stretcher in one sure motion; her feet landed on the floor with a solid _clack!_

Alyx Vance and Doctor Kleiner watched her walk about the lab on her stilettoed feet. She was unnaturally sure in her walking motions, making moving on the rather tall heels that her armour had developed quite natural. However, her movements were a bit too fluid and graceful, making her appear less human and more spider-like.

_Or antlion-like, _Alyx thought with an ironic smile that quickly disappeared when she turned her head and saw Kleiner's badly camouflaged frightful wonder. She was a new and strange specimen, unlike anything the either of them had ever before beheld.

The woman walked over to the mass of storage crates in the rear of the lab, examining them curiously. Then, out of nowhere, a screech broke the relative silence of the laboratory. Lamarr came flying down from a shelf close to the ceiling, landing on the woman's head. She flung the headcrab off of her with ease.

Then she began to shudder. Her limbs were morphing into longer appendages and her body was expanding and changing colour. And before long, the tall antlion guard stood before Kleiner and Alyx again.

It stared down the now-cowering headcrab with an almost palpable intensity. The small creature was cowering and emitting such a sound that sounded almost pitiful. The antlion, apparently having made her point of dominance, lowered her head, and with a rather graceful movement, head butted Lamarr across the lab. The headcrab landed in a heap at the base of the opposite wall and promptly scuttled out of sight. And as if to assert her newfound dominance, she turned a tight circle with her powerful legs clicking on the concrete floor.

What she did next was emit a high-pitched screech as before, but this time, the sound faded away to a much higher frequency, one that was inaudible to Alyx and Dr. Kleiner, but an indignant squeal from a hiding Lamarr indicated that at least the headcrab could perceive the sound.

She lowered her massive head and gave a low, dangerous growl.

Lamarr wasn't the only one who was startled. It was then that a decision was made.

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"Issac! _Issac!_ What's going on there?" Doctor Vance's voice crackled through the connection as his face became clearer and clearer on the communication screen. He wore a visage of concern at being contacted with such little warning. However, as he saw Alyx, his face eased.

"Alyx, there you are. What is happening? I haven't gotten communication after that event and then this-?"

"It's okay, Dad, we're fine here," she nodded to Kleiner, who was up on the catwalk, busying himself with different controls and panels. There were whirring sounds in the air all around the lab, protests from advanced machinery that were resisting their calls from sleep but obeying anyways. Eli Vance's face stared out of the screen on the wall. Alyx could see the worry on his face and felt a pang in her heart for her concerned father.

"Hello, Eli!" Kleiner yelled from behind the control panels. "I've almost gotten the teleportation module ready, it will be just a second and then Alyx will be right over." _With a rather important specimen, _was what Doctor Kleiner was going to add, but held his tongue. _Better to not raise undue alarm, _he thought as he slowly increased the torque emulators. He looked back up at the monitor, hoping that Eli wouldn't notice his small moment of hesitation. To Kleiner's relief, Eli Vance paid no heed to Kleiner's lapse in communication.

"Well, if everything is all right there, I'll get out of the wire and let you get on over here, Alyx," Eli continued, "Issac, I'm still confused as to what went on there, but I'll talk to you later about it, I suppose."

Kleiner nodded, pushing his glasses further up on the bridge of his nose. "Of course, Eli." He replied with a sense of business that was seldom ever heard from the rather eccentric scientist.

Alyx nodded as she stepped closer to the screen's power button. "See you soon, Dad."

"I'll be seeing you, Alyx," he replied. She pushed the button and the image of her father's face vanished into an faint grey imprint on the screen and then to nothing. After staring at the blank expanse of glass for a moment, she turned and walked to the area beneath the catwalk, one of the few blind spots of the communication system. It was there that the now-human woman sat on a crate with a small blanket wrapped about her black-armoured shoulders. Her head was bowed, her hair an auburn waterfall that was parted when she sensed Alyx's presence and looked to the other female. It was then that an idea flickered to life in the lively mind of Alyx Vance.

Alyx knelt in front of the woman, gazing deep into her startlingly yellow eyes.

"Are you ready to go..." she trailed off, wondering if she would really follow through, then deciding that now was as good a time as any, "...Violet?"

Recognizing a name directed at her, the woman's eyes widened in very human shock for a brief second. However, the shock turned back in to the beautifully stoic mask it was in an immeasurably short time. She gave a nod and stood up mechanically. Alyx smiled to herself and stood up as well. They walked out into the main area of the lab, approaching the teleporter.

"Everything looks fine from here, I think we're ready to go. Alyx, if you will," he motioned to a switch on the wall.

Alyx laughed. "Sure, Doc,"

She reached over to the metal of the wall and turned the switch without much trouble. The teleporter began whirring with the new influx of power.

"After you, Alyx Vance!" Kleiner called from the controls catwalk. She stepped into the main bay of the machine, followed by Violet on her impossibly graceful feet.

"_Violet _and I will see you soon!" Alyx called back, putting emphasis on the woman's new name. For a moment, Kleiner looked confused, but upon thinking of the circumstances, he realized to whom Alyx was referring and gave a small smile.

"Bon voyage!" he replied, closing the field of the teleporter. It slowly began to rise as the now-repaired mechanical arms whirled about Alyx and Violet. Alyx sneaked a small glance at the mysterious woman. She held her head high, pupils dilated and armour shining almost malevolently. As the current to the teleporter increased, Alyx could feel Violet's energy increasing more and more as they rose over the laboratory annex.

As Doctor Kleiner pressed the final release sequence button, he waved a last enthusiastic goodbye to the two women. Alyx returned the gesture; Violet kept her never-changing stare.

* * *

**A/N: Finally an update! Woo! I have had so many things going these past few months that I've been up to my ears in schoolwork, romance, and reality. I'm so sorry for the long wait; I hope those of you out there who still read my stories haven't given up on this one yet, because (though it seemed like it there for a bit) I sure haven't either! **

**So yeah, out of one lab and into another. But they won't be at Vance's lab for seven chapters like they were at Kleiner's. I have big plans for this plot. Eeee!**

**Anyways, R&R is ALWAYS appreciated. Much love! **


	9. AntiHiatus

Alyx had been through the teleporter numerous times. However, the sensation of being transported molecule by molecule over untold kilometers still unsettled her. It was as if she felt a layer of air in between each of her atoms; as if she were coming apart very slowly. But then came the reassuring feeling of coming back together very solidly in the other end of the teleport.

She remembered her very first time through the teleporter. She was but a young girl, only about twelve years old. _That first transport was horrifying for me…_she thought, _but if it was that traumatic for me, it must be hell for Violet. _

Fighting against the various forces acting on her body, Alyx turned her head to see Violet, as unaffected as ever. There was a slight change in the mutated woman's demeanor though; her eyes had a far away glaze to them, a drastic change from her almost-unbearable gaze.

Then, there was a jolting feeling that sang painfully through Alyx's body. And from the exaggerated motions of Violet, she was getting it much worse. The telltale blue threads of plasma from the chamber were coursing through her black armoured body, surrounding her in an almost web-like pattern. The woman wore a mask of unbearable agony on her face; Alyx knew Violet would scream if she could.

Suddenly, the sensation of teleporting was quickly replaced with that of falling. The bluish threads vanished with a crackle of electricity. And then there was black.

--

Alyx slowly woke again, aware of only two things.

One, she had a pounding headache. And two, she sure as hell was not in her father's lab.

She looked around the room she now found herself in. It was dingy and rather filthy; an old and stained mattress sat in the corner atop a rusted frame. The wallpaper was peeling and molded, even completely gone in some places. The room smelled old and the pungent odor of spilled paint lingered in the air like a perfume. Light filtered in weakly from a grime-covered window, pooling on the floor. And in that pool of light sat Violet, her black body plates gleaming almost wetly even in the weak light. At Alyx's awakening, her reptilian eyes narrowed and she tensed, stretching toward the other young woman curiously.

How they ended up in this strange room was beyond Alyx Vance's reasoning, but she knew they couldn't stay long. After all, Civil Protection was known to conduct random building searches from time to time. She slowly rose to her feet, but was discouraged when her vision swam threateningly. She sank into a crouch and closed her eyes, breathing deeply.

An irregular quiet skittering to her right told her that Violet had stood up and paced. Alyx opened her eyes, noticing that the mutated woman had a strange look of urgency. She stamped and tossed her head (in a rather antlion-like way, Alyx thought). Alyx managed to stand up with only a mild sense of vertigo this time. Violet tossed her a look that clearly said "Follow" and dashed out of the room and down a hall to the right.

"Wait!" Alyx called, not ready for the abrupt start. She exited the room as well, to just glimpse a sheaf of auburn hair winding around the corner ahead. She sighed and quickened her pace despite her lingering nausea. Rounding the corner, Alyx slammed into Violet, not expecting the woman to have stopped so abruptly. Alyx stumbled slightly and caught herself against the wall, but Violet had not even wavered. Regaining her composure, Alyx turned to Violet, only to see her still standing firmly in her place, staring straight ahead where a staircase wound down to floors below.

She turned her head (a hauntingly pneumatic motion) to gaze at Alyx. Alyx nodded and Violet took off down the stairs at a slightly slower pace, but still briskly moving along in her fluid yet surefooted gait. Alyx followed as best she could. Somehow, she knew that there was no stopping now.

As Violet touched down on the next floor, a few steps ahead of Alyx, she tensed. At this, Alyx froze, for she heard a sound that made her blood run cold.

It was the heavy footfalls and electronic voiceboxes of the Combine.

From the moderate volume, Alyx could tell that the noise was coming from a couple rooms over. "Okay, we can easily sneak by them," she said, moving closer to Violet's position. However, Violet had different plans.

She slunk along a moldering wall, towards the door from which the noises were loudest. When she came to the door, she tossed an intense glare back to Alyx, who was stricken with a sick feeling again. Violet had no idea what would happen to her, to them both, if she entered that door. All in one swift motion, Violet turned from Alyx, kicked the door open (on further recollection, Alyx recognized that it actually flew off the hinges), and entered the room. A gravelly, surprised utterance of "Hey, what the-" from one of the Combine was all Alyx heard before a loud, sizzling crackling filled the air. The sound sent a high-frequency buzz through Alyx's head, making her involuntarily flinch. She saw Violet's tall form silhouetted by an electric blue glow, then the crackling ceased, as did the buzz.

An unnatural silence filled the building.

A/N: There is no excuse why I haven't continued this. But I'm not going to dwell on why I haven't continued in a while, I'm only going to apologize for it and be SO EXCITED ABOUT NOT WRITING ANOTHER BORING LAB SCENE WOO!

Feedback is always appreciated. Feel free to tell me I'm a human butt wipe for disappearing for so long. :D


	10. Shark's Battalion

**A/N: The only warning I have for this one is tobacco use. So don't do it, okay children? Okay. **

Hesitantly, Alyx crept towards the small room. She stepped through the doorframe (what remained of it, anyways; Violet's forceful entry had split some of the frame) and was appalled at what she saw.

Both Metrocops were lying contorted on the ground, parts of their uniforms singed black. There was an awful smell in the air, almost like burnt rubber. A pistol and a stunstick were also charred and trailing thin lines of smoke into the air. Alyx looked from this mess to Violet, who had a dash of pride in her apathetic face. It was in the set of her mouth, Alyx decided; for the mutated woman's lips were curled up slightly at the corners, an unfamiliar disruption on her face. Turning her attention away, Alyx noticed a pair of large doors in front of her and the other woman.

But no sooner had Alyx taken note of the presence of the doors, Violet was very carefully opening the doors and stepping outside into the afternoon's light. Tilting her head as if listening, she gave Alyx the same 'Follow me' glare. Sparing one last look at the murdered Combine, Alyx followed with a sigh.

"No turning back now."

In the building opposite from which Alyx and Violet had just escaped, there was a slight congregation in the third room to the left off of the main hallway of the first level.

"Strategically chosen, of course," a man named John Cole said.

"Hah, 'strategically chosen'? Yeah sure, John," another man, Aaron Beck, chimed in, "and I'm a bowl full of rainbow sorbet."

"Sorbet? Where?" A rather large, muscular man named Jim Irvine chimed in with a good natured smile.

General laughter issued from the group of eight rebels scattered about the unnaturally large room. John was actually right about their hiding place, it was located in a relatively quiet part of the city and it was a room large enough to comfortably house the eight inhabitants, even if they were only staying the night. The two medics, Jane Prince and Sam Fowler, were seated near the two larger fighters of the group, Jim Irvine and Mark Prowda. The lucky ones who had nabbed the couch were John Cole, Aaron Beck, and Stephanie Schwartz, the latter of the three forced to perch on the armrest of the small couch. The eighth fighter lounged on an empty crate against a wall. She was preoccupied with a small leather messenger bag at her side, the length of her long dark ponytail hanging in her face, obscuring her features as she searched the bag.

Then, a noise quieted the idle chatter of the group. It was the opening and closing of a door. Stephanie Schwartz nimbly crept over to her own pack and took out a small pistol. She nodded to the fighter who formerly occupied the crate but now held a .45 in her right hand, standing tensely now. She nodded to Stephanie and they both made their silent way to the door. They stood on opposite sides of the door, listening intently for any more sound. The entire group had found their weapons and had assumed positions in the rear of the room, ready for a fight.

Two sets of footsteps were heard from the hallway, one set sounding considerably lighter than the other. They did not sound like the hard clumping steps of the Combine, but that detracted not from the group's tension at all. And strangely, though the door they were hiding behind was as nondescript as the others, the steps stopped right on the other side.

From that side, two brief loud knocks were heard. The two women fighters tensed, disengaging the safety on their respective weapons with two off-timed clicks. A brief look passed between them; before Stephanie grabbed the doorknob, twisting it and throwing open the door, pointing her pistol in the face of Alyx Vance.

The two just stood there, one frozen by fear, the other by adrenaline. When Stephanie saw that Alyx posed no threat, she exhaled and shook out the tension in her arms. Turning back to the group in the room, she yelled, "Clear!"

The others put down their weapons and resumed their places. Stephanie extended a hand to Alyx. "Hey, sorry about that, we were just a little on edge,"

Alyx smiled, "It's okay, times aren't really what they once were." At this, Stephanie nodded.

"Well, you should probably come in with us, it won't do any harm to have a ninth."

"Sure, I'll be a second though," Alyx said, relieved at Stephanie's shrug and smile as she retreated back in to the room. Alyx turned to Violet, who had pressed herself up against the wall next to the door, on full alert still. "Come on, Violet, they mean no harm," she pleaded, trying to shake the woman's iron will. Surprisingly, the woman relaxed but still drew herself up to her full height, as if to say that she was not going to trust them completely. Though Violet had lost her function of speech, she was intelligent and not easily fooled. That was part of what scared Alyx the most about the woman.

Alyx ventured into the room with Violet's light steps behind her. She watched as she caught the attention of all eight people in the room and then as their span shifted to Violet's presence. Alyx watched as one by one, all of their faces changed to expressions of mixed awe and puzzlement. Stephanie, still riveted by the presence of the mutated woman, spoke softly when she introduced each fighter. Violet surveyed each fighter evenly, her yellow eyes flashing. Alyx could only guess at what was going on in the enigmatic workings of Violet's brain. The circuitry that had been placed in her skull was busy processing and storing the names and correlating faces of each fighter.

Clearing her throat, Alyx began, "I am Alyx Vance, my father is Doctor Eli Vance-"

At that moment, the medic named Sam Fowler leapt up at the mention of Alyx's father. "Eli! I know him!" Alyx was immediately intrigued.

"Really? From where?" She asked.

Sam ran a hand through his fair hair. "He was the first one who saw me off the train when I arrived in City 17, now I have no idea where he is."

Alyx nodded and made a mental note to talk with Sam later as she remembered to introduce Violet. "And this is my friend, Violet." She motioned to the black-armored woman, who simply nodded and blinked a bit longer than normal in recognition of her introduction. Alyx continued, "So, it may be immaterial, but who is your leader, I mean, if you have one…?"

The entire group turned to the woman on the crate with obedience and a good-natured chuckle from a few. She looked at them, with a quirk of her eyebrow but got off her crate anyways. She walked towards Alyx and Violet with a sort of swagger; cutting a confident figure in the low light, her dark ponytail swinging. She carried a cigar and a white-colored lighter in one hand; what she had been digging for in her bag.

"I'm Jordan Newkirk, as Stephanie has said; and our impromptu leader as well, I suppose," her smooth voice was met with a few laughs from the group. Jordan took the moment to carefully light her cigar and exhale the smoke into the air. She continued, "As you can see, we're not staying here long," she motioned to their packs in various areas of the room with her smoking hand, "and if you couldn't tell already, we're a small resistance group. And we're a formidable one, if I do say so myself."

This sentiment was met with a general group cry of assent, various 'yeah!'s and nods. Jordan took another puff off of her cigar and exhaled the smoke through her nose. "So, you and…Violet, is it?" At this, Violet nodded mechanically. Jordan went on, unperturbed, "yes, you and Violet are welcome to join us. Do you have any weapons?"

For a fleeting moment, Alyx almost said 'yes', but she remembered that she had left her trusty pistol beneath her pillow back at Black Mesa East.

"No, I don't have my gun with me."

Jordan nodded at Violet. "What about her?"

Alyx remembered the two charred Combine and repressed a shudder. "She's fine as she is."

Jordan smiled wide, revealing a row of surprisingly white teeth. But there was something about the smile that made Alyx uneasy. It was more of a shark's wide grin than anything.

"Well then, welcome! We'll find you a gun, Alyx, if there's one thing we've got, it's firepower." Jordan exhaled smoke through her nose again, this time eliciting a joking remark from Jim.

"Violet, any more of that and you won't be able to run like you do!"

"Oh please, Jim," she scoffed, playfully rolling her eyes, "it's my first one in months!"

And with that, Alyx was quickly accepted into the ranks of the small group of guerilla fighters. Initially, Violet kept her distance, but ventured closer as the sun sank below the horizon and the small room grew dark. Jane Prince and Sam Fowler scavenged for a bit in the other rooms and recovered a couple mattresses for Alyx and Violet; the others having already set up their bedrolls.

As everyone bedded down, Jim Irvine and Stephanie Schwartz stayed apart from the group. When Alyx asked Jordan why they had not set up yet, she responded that they were simply taking the first watch.

"We rotate the watch all night," she said, stubbing out the remainder of her cigar and carefully wrapping it, storing the rest in her bag, "with the city how it is, we can never afford to be completely blind and deaf. That's when they get us."

Jordan didn't need to clarify; Alyx knew exactly who 'they' were. She made her way over to her mattress and lay down. Violet had retired on the mattress next to her; Alyx could see her normally quickened respiration had slowed somewhat, her ribs rose and fell slightly slower. Alyx pulled the thin blanket Jane found over her and closed her eyes, eventually settling into a light sleep.

**A/N: I actually like this chapter. And here's the characters from 'Merciless'! Haven't read it yet? Go here! (remove spaces, of course)**

**http:// www. fanfiction. net /s/4840669 /1/ Merciless_A_ Portrait_Of_A_Rebel  
**

**Cake and wishes times two**

**For those who fave and review.**


	11. Apprehension And Evasion

**A/N: If you're uncomfortable with graphic strangulation scenes, skip the beginning.**

Jordan crept into the room with the stealth of a large jungle cat. She had left her harder artillery outside the door, armed only now with her trusted knife strapped tight against her calf. The carpet beneath her flat boots was lavish and expensive, but did an excellent job of muffling her careful footsteps. The room was similarly furnished, with a beautiful four-poster bed and a dark red couch against the far wall.

Only a few yards from her final destination, she leaped from the floor onto the bed, landing right over its occupant.

Doctor Wallace Breen awoke with a start in response to the vigilante's intrusion on his sleep. He managed to get out a "What the h-" before Jordan's strong hands closed around his throat. Breen's grey eyes went wide and his hands scrabbled at his throat, clawing against Jordan's iron grip. He thrashed up against her, but his older body didn't have much sway over her own battle-hardened frame. Jordan could feel the wild pulse of his carotid artery, elevated from panic and surprise.

She pressed down with her full weight against her hands and his face turned a deeper shade of red. The man couldn't make much noise aside from a high whistling as he tried in vain to draw breath. A derisive laugh passed from her throat as she tightened her grip more. Breen's struggles became weaker until they were just slight spasms of his hands and feet.

"Shhhh..." Jordan whispered as she squeezed his throat ever harder. Her tone was almost that of a mother shushing a child, but the sadistic smile proved otherwise. She could see that death glaze in Breen's eyes now, the one that meant he wasn't much longer, and she couldn't help but smile wider as she kept her grip. Breen's pulse thumped slower and slower until his entire body tensed up and then, finally, relaxed into a ragdoll state. After holding on for a few seconds more, Jordan released her hold on the man's neck, proud of the marks her long hands had left there. She turned and climbed down off the opulent bed, headed for the exquisitely crafted cigar case she saw on his bedside table.

Before she could reach her prize, the room dissolved around her.

"Jordan!" Someone was calling her name. Blinking away the last remnants of her dream, she found herself staring up into the frightened face of Stephanie Schwartz.

"Did I miss my watch?" Jordan asked blearily, sitting up and looking about the room. Everyone else was either shaking away sleep or frantically but silently packing their bags. From the dingy window, Jordan could see it was still dark outside. Odd, since they usually moved at the first light. "Wait, Schwartz, wha's going on?"

"Jordan, there's a CP squad infiltrating the building across the street," Stephanie answered nervously. That was all the explanation Jordan needed; she was on her feet and methodically rolling up her bedroll to stow with the rest of her gear.

"Why the hell would they swarm like this? There's got to be a reason." Jordan said, standing up and examining the group. They were all now packed and ready for direction from their leader. As Jordan's eyes fell on Alyx, she spoke up with a note of apology in her voice.

"Yesterday, Violet murdered two CP's," she spat out. Jordan opened her mouth to interject, but Alyx continued on instead, sensing Jordan would chastise her given the slightest chance. "However, it was completely necessary! If she hadn't killed them, we would have been caught for sure, I know it," Alyx paused, her voice growing softer now, "But it was quite strange. Violet was aware of the CP's when we were on the level above them. It's almost like she has a radar for them."

Through all this, the woman in question was standing completely still next to Alyx. Her yellow eyes were guarded and she had a demure set to her mouth. Yet Jordan could sense that it was taking all of Violet's self-restraint (or whatever the equivalent of it could be in her strange mind) to not hunt down the CP's and rip them apart. The thought ignited Jordan's ever-present hatred of the Combine and gave her new energy. She turned to the rest of the group.

"Okay," she began, taking a breath and shouldering her pack, "let's get out of here."

She led the group out the door and down the hallway. Stephanie Schwartz and John Cole stayed close to her sides and the rest fell into line behind them, Alyx and Violet bringing up the rear of the group. They trekked up to the rooftop and into the velvety dark that rested comfortably over City 17. The stars shone almost abnormally brightly on this night. As the fighters dispersed over the rough texture of the roof, Jane Prince was entranced by the sky.

"Hey Sam," she called out to her fellow medic. He turned back at the sound of his name and stood beside Jane, similarly looking towards the sky. "Do you ever think that we, I mean, that there's another world like ours out there? Like with humans like us?"

Sam Fowler shook his head and placed a comforting hand on Jane's back. "I don't know, Jane, but I'm sure they're sleeping wherever they are. Lucky dogs." His attempt at humor made both medics laugh in spite of their situation.

Alyx watched this exchange with curiosity and intrigue. This group had obviously been through a lot that Alyx could only guess at. They had been out here on the streets, fighting for what little they had to keep. They trusted each other with their very lives.

"Come on, guys, we've got to get the hell outta here!" Jordan called, motioning to a fire escape down which the others had already scurried. Violet was wavering at Jordan's side, sensing her leadership but still keeping watchful eyes upon Alyx. She made her way to the fire escape, followed by the medics. Violet closely scrambled down the fire escape after Alyx.

As they all touched down on the side of the street, Alyx was startled by the pure silence of the night around the group. Alyx noticed that the others had pulled out various weapons and were stock-still. Alyx crept over to Stephanie Schwartz, who was holding a second gun. Alyx took it gratefully and stood with the others.

**A/N: This took far too long. I have a bunch more projects on my plate right now, but I'm working hard (hardly working) I hope you all will put up with me and my spotty updates and cliffhanger endings. I promise it will be worth it.**


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